Boothroyd - We were naive

Tuesday 3 January 2006 00:10 BST

Watford boss Adrian Boothroyd branded his team "naive" after they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Fulham on Monday night.

The Hornets seemed to be cruising to victory after goals from Marlon King and Ashley Young had put them 2-0 up, but Watford conceded three goals in the last 19 minutes - including a shocking own-goal from Damien Francis - and were staring at defeat. Young's second goal, in the 89th minute, rescued a point, but Watford are still searching for their first Premiership win of the season.

"We were naive," Boothroyd said. "We managed some wonderful moves, and got ourselves 2-0 up, but we are a team used to delivering knock-out punches. We stopped doing what we were good at after we'd gone 2-0 up. We were on the back foot and decided to cover up, and that is not what we are about. I'm sure I will be able to find positives from this match, but I can't manage it."

Fulham boss Chris Coleman praised his team's character following their unlikely fightback, although he admitted he thought they had won it when Francis put through his own goal four minutes from full-time.

Coleman said: "At 3-2, we were thinking the job was done, but it was a great finish from Ashley Young for their equaliser.

"We worked so hard and thought we were there, but we will work on defending set pieces for the rest of the week, because Watford are very organised in those situations.

"We had a chat at half-time, and told the players to get the ball down and start playing. When we started to do what we are good at, we caused Watford problems."